In Search Of Sand, Salt Water, Rainbow Flags and Linguini With Clam Sauce Part Three: Salt Water

Part Three: SALT WATER

I love Salt Water. The Atlantic Ocean. Long Island Sound. The Pacific Ocean.

California has more than its share. “If everyone had an ocean, like Californ-I-A…”

Although I took a daily plunge, I didn’t really ever go for a swim. I somehow just wasn’t feeling it.

We did a lot of “body surfing” in July when we were at Black’s Beach in San Diego and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The water there was clear and cool. And the surf, though powerful, seemed manageable.

My visits to Black’s Beach were heavenly. Sun, sand, salt water, and samba music on my iPhone. Black’s Beach is also partially or mostly a gay beach, so there was that - definitely a bit of a Provincetown feel and a comfort level that we didn’t experience in Pismo or Avila. More later on the search for rainbow flags.

The water in Avila at the dog beach, and at Pirates Cove (the nude beach where there were fewer nudes than clothed and which seems like its become a young peoples party beach) and in Oceano was a little less inviting than Black's beach in San Diego.

Those were not “swimming” beaches. No life guards. Lots of seaweed and algae. Which really doesn’t bother me. We didn't go to the "swimming" beaches where there were too many people and usually paid parking. And the waves at Avila and Pirates Cove beaches were tamer than at Pismo, they churn up the fine sand quite vigorously which gives the surf near the shore a muddy look. But that doesn’t really bother me much either.

My main concern was that I was not familiar with the local currents, the local undertows or the local sharks. And the surf seemed a bit unforgiving.

One thing about this stretch of the California shoreline, maybe most of the west coast, is that the beaches are very flat and wide, a lot like Ogunquit in Maine. Cape Cod beaches, at least along the National Seashore, are steeper and generally more narrow and, because of the angle of the beach, the waves in Provincetown, which are also generally tamer, break closer to the shore. They don’t break way out like they do in California where people can ride them in on surfboards. Maybe I'm just biased, but I think New England waves have a gentler, hypnotic rhythm, playing backup to my samba music.

The sound of the surf in California begins way off shore. It is loud and comes at you from 180 degrees, the waves stepping on one another, multiplying their discordant rhythms into a cacophony of thunder.
So not as soothing, I think.

Avila

Pismo Vehicle Beach

Off Port San Luis Pier Near Avila Beach

Avila

Pismo

Pirates Cove

Avila 

Avila

Pirates Cove

Avila